by Bethanie Harriman – EMTV News, Lae
Managing Director for The Professionals Real Estate in Lae, Mike Quinn, says the company has had to cut its prices due to a slow down in the employment of foreign executives.
Quinn says companies are cutting costs and this is having a significant impact on their businesses.
In the last six months, some companies in Lae have been doing it tough with the current economic downturn, and are slowly letting executives go without replacing them.
The Professionals is seeing a decline in the number of its top clients forcing a downward shift in prices.
?”Companies are feeling the pressure and they are getting rid of staff at the top end, they’ve gotten rid of lots at the top end, middle section a little redundancy there and the bottom section still seems to be holding okay,” says Quinn.
Though there are other factors involved, what is seen in property market prices could be seen as an indication that Lae companies are not recruiting.
Lae is an industrial centre that hosts some of the country’s leading manufacturing companies that employ local residents.
“So they haven’t retrenched anyone, but the natural attrition has meaning that the numbers of staff are dropping off,” Quinn says.
An indication that companies were struggling came on the first of this month when KK Kingston Chief Executive Officer, Michael Kingston, said the company might have to lay off workers if pressures regarding foreign currency were to continue.
The Bank of PNG has encouraged manufacturers to look for cheaper products and other suppliers among a series of alternatives, which also includes a request for additional funding from the International Finance Corporation.
